Bellator FC Announces Signed Fighters

by MMASuPreMaCy on Jan 6, 2009 3:48 PM EST Comment 64 comments

Rebney acknowledges that, despite an impressive sports pedigree, he and co-founder Brad Epstein lack any direct experience in MMA. And he does not disagree with Frank Shamrock’s statement to MMAPayout.com that experience is essential to the success of any promotion. In response he has recruited a team including former King of the Cage fighters Matt Stansell and Jeff Clark. “They’ve fought inside the cage and have worked on the promotional end, promoting and managing fighters,” he says.

Thanks to their efforts, Bellator has signed “a good number” of fighters from Japan, Brazil, Russia, the U.S. and Western Europe, including 155 pounder Eddie Alvarez and light heavyweight Dave Herman. “UFC’s done a terrific job,” says Rebney, “but the fact that highly talented fighters like Eddie, who are charismatic, articulate and dedicated, are available is a misstep that we’ve been able to capitalize on.”

MMAOnline reports:

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 6 /PRNewswire/ — Bellator Fighting Championships, a first-of-its-kind Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) promotion, officially announced today the exclusive signing of former Cuban Olympian Hector “Shango” Lombard. Lombard will compete in the Middleweight (185 lb.) division of Bellator’s tournament style events, which premiere on ESPN Deportes April 4, 2009 and run for 12 weeks every Saturday night.

....

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 6 /PRNewswire/ — Bellator Fighting Championships, a first of its kind Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) promotion, officially announced today the exclusive signing of undefeated MMA fighter Lyman Good. As the newest addition to the Welterweight (170 lb.) division of Bellator’s tournament style events, which premiere on ESPN Deportes April 4, 2009, Good may be the division’s wildcard. Training at a New Jersey branch of the world-renowned Tiger Schulmann gym, Good brings strength and tremendous striking down to the Welterweight division after fighting much of his undefeated career at Middleweight (185 lb.).

...

Bellator Fighting Championships’ premiere season consists of 12 two-hour events to be broadcast weekly in primetime on Saturday nights. The nationally televised events will feature a combination of tournament and non-tournament special feature bouts. There will be four simultaneous tournaments taking place in season #1 over a three month period: one in each of the Featherweight (145 lb.), Lightweight (155 lb.), Welterweight (170 lb.) and Middleweight (185 lb.) divisions.

Bellator Fighting Championship Participants:
Eddie Alvarez (15-2)
Jorge Masdival (16-3)
Wilson Reis (6-0)
Hector Lombard (17-2)
Lyman Good (7-0)
War Machine (6-2)
Diego “El Nino” Garijo (3-1)
Dave Herman (13-1)

Also Possible:
Nick Diaz
Paulo Fihlo
Joey Villasenor
Marcus Aurelio
Fabricio Camoes

Thanks to smoogy:

List of rumoured participants

As compiled by me:

185lbs: Paulo Filho, Virgil Lazano, Edwin Aguilar, Hector Lombard, Daniel Tabera
170lbs: Lyman Good, War Machine, Toby Imada, Norman Paraisay, Omar De La Cruz, Daniel Morales
155lbs: Eddie Alvarez, Jorge Masvidal, Thomas Schulte, Nick Gonzalez, Joe Soto
145lbs: Wilson Reis, Ben Greer, Sami Aziz

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.

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…the fact that highly talented fighters like Eddie, who are charismatic, articulate and dedicated, are available is a misstep that we’ve been able to capitalize on.

Well what was the UFC supposed to do, sign him while he’s still under contract with EliteXC and DREAM? That does not exactly jive with their business plan.

Though, I haven’t seen Alvarez’s name mentioned amongst the list of fighters Dana White would like to sign from EliteXC, which is odd to me.

"BJ on the BE" - Kierkegaard

by Brett Jones on Jan 6, 2009 4:01 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Dana tried to sign Eddie Alvarez when he tried out for TUF but the UFC wouldn’t let him be on the show and tried to sign him during the try outs. The UFC then lowballed him, and he accepted the much better offer from BodogFight. The rest is history.

by MMASuPreMaCy on Jan 6, 2009 4:05 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Dana tried to do something and the UFC wouldn’t let it happen? Damn that UFC, if only Dana had some power everything would be rainbows and candy.

by szucconi on Jan 6, 2009 4:09 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Obviously, Dana = UFC.

by MMASuPreMaCy on Jan 6, 2009 4:21 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

He wasn’t really anyone when bodog signed him. He was undefeated, but hadn’t beaten anyone. He was perect fit for entry level UFC fighter, but he went elsewhere. Its a good thing Bodog fell apart gracfuly or they could have had an elitexc type contract issue and Alvarez may not have been so luck. To say the UFC lowballed him is revisionist history. He wasn’t worth much at the time.

by szucconi on Jan 6, 2009 4:31 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Well, the UFC obviously thought he was good enough to be signed straight out of TUF try outs and skip TUF.

by MMASuPreMaCy on Jan 6, 2009 4:40 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Well yes, but I doubt they lowballed him in the same way the Orioles lowball every free agent. Maybe Bodog over paid to steal a prospect, but they are no longer in the MMA business. Signing Alvarez was one good move in a long line of very wrong ones.

by szucconi on Jan 6, 2009 4:52 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

lol

Way to move the goal posts

by smoogy on Jan 6, 2009 5:11 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

No.

Dana tried to sign him but it was a crappy offer and he signed with Bodog instead.

by MMASuPreMaCy on Jan 6, 2009 4:22 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

And then BODOGFight went out of business.

So, there’s that.

"BJ on the BE" - Kierkegaard

by Brett Jones on Jan 7, 2009 8:54 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

exactly

Alavarez is obviously bad luck to mma promotions

"Stop smiling you are about to be punched in the face !"

by Warhand on Jan 7, 2009 10:37 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

That’s true.

BODOGFight – dead
EliteXC – dead
DREAM – on it’s way

Seems over for Bellator, but Affliction is probably happy right now.

"BJ on the BE" - Kierkegaard

by Brett Jones on Jan 7, 2009 11:02 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

They can't be too happy

They have Fedor.

RINGS – Dead
PRIDE – Dead
M-1 Global w/ Monte Cox – Dead
Affliction – On It’s Way

by Rundownloser on Jan 7, 2009 3:01 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Damn, maybe they should sign Eddie Alvarez. Maybe their failure signals would cross and cancel each other out.

"BJ on the BE" - Kierkegaard

by Brett Jones on Jan 7, 2009 3:08 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I don’t know. I suspect that the amount of high-caliber promotion killing power in one organization might cause some sort of cosmological collapse.

by Rundownloser on Jan 7, 2009 3:24 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Regardless of the Alvarez/UFC saga...

Bellator is doing some interesting things… I’m going to have to comb through my non-HD cable channels to see if deportes is available, but I doubt it. The roster certainly has a good start, but what exactly is the business model? Cater to the latino market? Sign Brazillians and broadcast in Spanish? Many questions…

There's a WAMMA belt in my Cracker Jacks!

by Drewplata on Jan 6, 2009 4:42 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

In the coming months, we will keep you posted on new and exciting developments with the organization. Bellator is entering the MMA industry armed with world-class fighters, a great executive team, a tournament format that lets fighters determine their own destiny and an exclusive TV deal with ESPN Deportes. Bellator is the first MMA organization to secure such a TV deal with any member of the ESPN family of networks. In the coming months, leading up to the premiere episode of season #1, we will continually update you on all forms of new and exciting developments with the organization that includes news on fighter signings, venues for events, sponsor alliances and all types of additional information.

The two cornerstones of Bellator are: The Fighters and The Fans. In an MMA fight, anything can happen, which is part of what makes MMA so great to watch. This April we will showcase some of the world’s top MMA fighters in a tournament format: real fights, real events, real elimination, no "reality" TV. At Bellator, you will see the best fight the best each week to determine who rises to the top and becomes Champion, and who collects the largest purses. And all of this will be available on free TV through ESPN Deportes.
…
My hope, as a fan and as the CEO of this company, is to provide truly exciting MMA programming to our fans in a format that you haven’t seen before.
…

One last thing: your opinions matter to us. If you have thoughts, suggestions or ideas for Bellator, please email them to us. MMA is still a relatively new sport and ultimately it’s you, the fan, who will determine where this great sport goes and how it’s produced. So, if you have ideas, please don’t hesitate to share them with us.

I will be contacting you soon with more exciting news.

Thanks,

Bjorn Rebney

CEO

Bellator Fighting Championships

Where Fighters Become Warriors, and Warriors Become Legends

by MMASuPreMaCy on Jan 6, 2009 4:50 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks!

Where did you get that? Are you on a mailing list?

There's a WAMMA belt in my Cracker Jacks!

by Drewplata on Jan 6, 2009 4:58 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Brazilians aren’t Latino, nor do they speak spanish.

by KneeToTheFace on Jan 6, 2009 5:16 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Which is why some of these signings puzzle the hell out of me.

by Michaelthebox on Jan 6, 2009 5:17 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I am sure Dave Herman and Lyman Good have great portuguese or spanish.
J/k. I believe they are trying to get the best fighters they can. The whole latino thing is so that they can have a good base.

by MMASuPreMaCy on Jan 6, 2009 6:33 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Brazil is definitely part of Latin America, and Brazilians are very much Latinos -Latin Americans.

by George Lucas on Jan 6, 2009 7:49 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Yup.

by MMASuPreMaCy on Jan 7, 2009 4:19 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Check out our new web site www.Bellator.com which will launch in the coming weeks.

by MMASuPreMaCy on Jan 6, 2009 6:39 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Rec’d btw

There's a WAMMA belt in my Cracker Jacks!

by Drewplata on Jan 6, 2009 4:46 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I’m interested to see how this goes.

by Michaelthebox on Jan 6, 2009 5:04 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

List of rumoured participants

As compiled by me:

185lbs: Paulo Filho, Virgil Lazano, Edwin Aguilar, Hector Lombard, Daniel Tabera
170lbs: Lyman Good, War Machine, Toby Imada, Norman Paraisay, Omar De La Cruz, Daniel Morales
155lbs: Eddie Alvarez, Jorge Masvidal, Thomas Schulte, Nick Gonzalez, Joe Soto
145lbs: Wilson Reis, Ben Greer, Sami Aziz

by smoogy on Jan 6, 2009 5:12 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Nice smoogy

Good rumored list!

by MMASuPreMaCy on Jan 6, 2009 6:33 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Diego "El Nino" Garijo (3-1)

I hadn’t heard him mentioned until now. Presumably he is part of the 155lb field?

by smoogy on Jan 6, 2009 6:40 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Lightweight MMA contender Diego "El Nino" Garijo has recently signed a contract with the Bellator Fighting Championships. The promotion will be holding MMA tournament style shows which are to be aired on ESPN Deportes which is the Spanish version of ESPN. The new promotion will look to air their first viewing sometime in April.

by MMASuPreMaCy on Jan 6, 2009 6:46 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Garijo currently trains in San Diego and is based out of Saulo and Xande Ribeiro’s University of Jiu-Jitsu.

by MMASuPreMaCy on Jan 6, 2009 6:47 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Sounds good to me. I already think this show is going to have a solid impact, its like they’ve been listening to all the gripes about TUF and tried to develop an antidote.

by smoogy on Jan 7, 2009 1:04 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I think the show sounds pretty good. Is the basic goal to run the season and then put the finale on PPV?

Anyway, MMAsupremacy, why don’t you post their email address so the fans here can email them ideas if that is what they want.

by Michael Rome on Jan 6, 2009 5:20 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Check out our new web site www.Bellator.com which will launch in the coming weeks.

by MMASuPreMaCy on Jan 6, 2009 6:35 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

War Machine?

Really? Someone’s giving this idiot another shot? Shouldn’t he have pulled a Neer or something worse by now?

by scotty23 on Jan 6, 2009 5:41 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Actually, all the people that are getting cut by the UFC will probably sign.

by MMASuPreMaCy on Jan 6, 2009 6:36 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

This is what should have happened 2 years ago…

Go into a new market with a proven business plan.

The problem here is Deportes has something like a reach of 6 million…

Bodog’s ION had more than 10 times that.

You’re not gonna build a ppv based business model with this.

If HDNet had a tournament show like this it would make more headway… oh wait they have m-1 challenge which doesn’t do shit.

TODAY… TODAY even if espn major got behind mma full scale they wouldn’t be able to compete.

Zuffa is gobbling up all of the TV deals in every major market and in every major language.

If Bellator does everything right, they could be the strikeforce of the latino market.

by mmalogic on Jan 6, 2009 6:27 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

You underestimate ESPN.
If ESPN gets behind it, it would have MAJOR coverage and exposure.

ESPN Deportes is their trial run.

by MMASuPreMaCy on Jan 6, 2009 6:37 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

IM praying espn major gets nehind mma full scale.

by mmalogic on Jan 6, 2009 7:06 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Perhaps the Bellator brain trust is thinking that despite the pathetic reach of Deportes, they can hype this up heavily online and create a number that is very good in relative terms, kind of like how Strikeforce gets positive headlines for their late night programming on NBC.

I would not be shocked if ESPN offers up the show in some form as online video either.

by smoogy on Jan 7, 2009 1:08 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Im dying for ESPN to get in… finally someone to play chess with.

Everyone of these other morons are playing checkers…

It’ll still be over in less than 6 moves though :)

by mmalogic on Jan 7, 2009 5:24 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

ESPN isn’t King Midas and everything they touch doesn’t turn to gold, still they have the ability to make a big push. What I really wonder is if ESPN doesn’t have the same issues as HBO would in that the people behind the scenes don’t actually like the sport.

by who me on Jan 7, 2009 5:56 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

HBO understands data… they will never get into MMA unless its with the UFC.

They realize all they would be doing is creating fans for the UFC more likely coming from their boxing product. Too much of a risk.

UFC has so much programming on that they cant match it.

Right now every mma fan that’s generated has only one place to go to get a quality consistent fix and that’s spike.

This is why no matter who’s on network tv, Zuffa’s wins.

Its like Your cousin – who you see every 3 months or so – comes over and gets you hooked on crack…

Guess what, now your gonna start doing business with the dealer who comes around the neighborhood every damn week… and you’ll mostly like his shit better.

Now espn can do weekly programming and potentially match the UFC – however they will end up increasing Zuffa’s fan base by about 30-40% (if they really get behind it) and ultimately close up shop.

Like I said… It’ll all be over in less than 6 moves :)

by mmalogic on Jan 7, 2009 7:14 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Agree on the business analysis, but not the crack purchasing – I keep that shit in the family.

by subo on Jan 7, 2009 7:26 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

UFC is the most pure MMA in the market mutha fucka

by mmalogic on Jan 7, 2009 8:20 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

but my Spanish sucks...

I only enough spanish to be able to order food, ask where the bathroom is, buy weed, and in turn keeping my ass out of jail…

Any hope at all that this will be on any of the English speaking channels?

by Gunslinger20 on Jan 6, 2009 7:40 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Didn’t ESPN get behind The Contender? That show has since met its demise, hasn’t it?

"BJ on the BE" - Kierkegaard

by Brett Jones on Jan 7, 2009 8:57 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

nope...

it’s got a new season running right now…on Versus.

Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.

by Brent Brookhouse on Jan 7, 2009 11:09 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

You use ellipses a lot.

Also, from ESPN to Versus. So The Contender is following Hockey’s television strategy. That’s…questionable.

(now you’ve got me doing it).

"BJ on the BE" - Kierkegaard

by Brett Jones on Jan 7, 2009 11:23 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

So no tournament for Pee Wee?

I don’t see that guy cutting to 185lbs…. I don’t know how the hell he gets to 205…

by Gunslinger20 on Jan 6, 2009 7:39 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I don't think he does

Doesn’t he fight at HW?

by FRANKIE on Jan 6, 2009 8:32 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

He does. He sure does. Wooonderful fighter!

"They called him the axe-murderer because he was murdering chumps. They should have been calling him the chump-murderer..." Rampage Jackson (commentating on the fighting abilities of Wanderlei "F#ck Chuck" Silva.)

by BlueberryMuffin on Jan 7, 2009 10:40 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

They may have tournaments for the big boys after their initial tournaments.

by MMASuPreMaCy on Jan 7, 2009 4:20 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

bellator is actually good for the UFC.. Their stars could just give the UFC more potential contenders to sign after..

also, If paulo filho goes there and actually revives his career then we can surely say that he’s going back to zuffa after. I hope he does good. If we see the old paulo, then we can see chael filho 3 in the UFC, then if he wins he can go for the belt.

http://weoweoweo.deviantart.com/

by weoweoweo on Jan 6, 2009 8:32 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Or...

He could chase a pay check, be out of shape and still half gone mentally….

There's a WAMMA belt in my Cracker Jacks!

by Drewplata on Jan 6, 2009 10:05 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I had some hope for them but this made me really scratch my head:

The missing elements, he claims, are a "sense of legitimate objectivity," which he says is found in boxing but not in MMA. Bellator is not offering "a stale reality format" but a tournament that shows "an aspect of the game that is more pleasurable to watch.

MMA is missing legitimate objectivity but boxing has it? The lack of legitimacy and objectivity due to the alphabet soup and hodge podge of champions in boxing is one of it’s biggest flaws. For goodness sake that’s the last kind of “legitimate objectivity” I’d want to see brought to MMA. I know that these guys came from boxing promotion I just hope they aren’t really thinking like that.

I also think that there are a lot of issues with tournaments as far as “legitimate objectivity” goes but those would depend a lot on how they structured the tournament. Lets face it the Dream lightweight tournament was great but the guy who won the belt actually lost the tournament in a earlier round and we didn’t get the actual championship fight until last week, great entertainment but it really took away from the legitimacy of the end of it. Hopefully they would of learned from incidents like that but it’s hard to have a tournament that can’t be trashed by a simple cut or injury or odd fighter bracket placement giving one guy a distinct advantage, particularly if you aren’t allowing a couple of months between fights at each level of the bracket.

MMAconvert had a good article up on this: http://www.mmaconvert.com/2009/01/06/bellator-fighting-championships-lost-me-when/

by who me on Jan 7, 2009 3:19 AM EST reply actions 0 recs